Method, system and program product for correlating data between operating environments

ABSTRACT

A data correlation technique is provided for a computing environment having multiple independent operating environments. The technique includes associating by a first operating environment a first key to a set of data to be obtained responsive to an identified event within the computing environment; obtaining by a second operating environment the set of data with the associated first key, and associating a second key therewith; and using the set of data with the associated first key and second key to match to the set of data at least one other set of data obtained by the first operating environment or the second operating environment responsive to the event. The at least one other set of data has only the first key or the second key associated therewith. In one implementation, the event is a fatal event at a network interface adapter.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an improved processing system, and moreparticularly, to a method, system and program product for correlatingasynchronously obtained data between independent operating environmentsof a computing environment.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Logical partitioning allows for the establishment of a plurality ofsystem images within a single physical machine or central processorcomplex (CPC). Each system image is capable of operating as if it was aseparate computer system. That is, each logical partition can beindependently reset, initially loaded with an operating system that maybe different for each logical partition, and operate with differentsoftware programs using different input/output (I/O) devices.

Examples of logically partitioned computing systems are described in,for instance, Guyette et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,564,903, entitled“Partitioned Multiprocessor Programming System,” issued Jan. 14, 1996;Bean et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,843,541, entitled “Logical ResourcePartitioning of a Data Processing System,” issued Jun. 27, 1989; andKubala, U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,040, entitled “Method and Apparatus forProviding a Server Function in a Logically Partitioned HardwareMachine,” issued Oct. 8, 1996, each of which is hereby incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one example, a computing environment may comprise one or more centralprocessing complexes, with an independent service processor beingemployed for configuration and error handling responsibilities withinthe computing environment. In such an environment, wherein there aremultiple operating environments, multiple sets of data may be requiredfor certain events to be diagnosed properly. Each set of data may becollected and stored within the computing environment in response to anevent such as a fatal error event. A technique is thus required tocorrelate separate sets of data obtained, for example, by a hostoperating environment and the service processor, which in oneembodiment, do not communicate directly, but rather only via a firmwarelayer supporting the host operating environment.

The shortcomings of the prior art are overcome and additional advantagesare provided through the provision of a method of correlating databetween independent operating environments of a computing environment.The method includes: identifying an event; responsive to the identifyingof the event, associating by a first operating environment a first keyto a set of data to be obtained responsive to the event; obtaining by asecond operating environment the set of data with the associated firstkey, and associating a second key therewith; and using the set of datawith the associated first key and second key to match thereto at leastone other set of data obtained by the first operating environment or thesecond operating environment responsive to the event, the at least oneother set of data having only the first key or the second key associatedtherewith.

In enhanced aspects, the set of data and the at least one other set ofdata are obtained asynchronously by at least one of the first operatingenvironment and the second operating environment. The computingenvironment may include a network interface adapter, and the firstoperating environment may be a service processor for the computingenvironment, and the second operating environment a host operatingenvironment which employs the network interface adapter. Within such acomputing environment, the service processor is assumed to communicatewith a firmware layer of the computing environment supporting the hostoperating environment. In addition, as one example, the event maycomprise a failure event received or identified at the network interfaceadapter.

Systems and computer program products corresponding to theabove-summarized methods are also described and claimed herein.

Further, additional features and advantages are realized through thetechniques of the present invention. Other embodiments and aspects ofthe invention are described in detail herein and are considered a partof the claimed invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The subject matter which is regarded as the invention is particularlypointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at the conclusion ofthe specification. The foregoing and other objects, features, andadvantages of the invention are apparent from the following detaileddescription taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings inwhich:

FIG. 1 depicts one embodiment of a computing environment to incorporateand use data correlation capabilities in accordance with an aspect ofthe present invention;

FIG. 2 is a more detailed embodiment of a computing environmentincorporating and using the data correlation capabilities of the presentinvention, and showing receipt of a fatal event at a network interfaceadapter and sending notification thereof to a service processor of thecomputing environment and to an adapter error logging and recoverydaemon of a host operating environment employing the network interfaceadapter, in accordance with an aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 3 depicts the computing environment of FIG. 2, showing the serviceprovider logging a set of data obtained responsive to the event to afirmware layer of the computing environment, and the generation andsaving of another set of data (i.e., a snapshot file) responsive to theevent by the adapter error logging and recovery daemon of the hostoperating environment, in accordance with an aspect of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 depicts the computing environment of FIGS. 2 & 3, illustratingthe service provider initially associating a first key with a dump setof data subsequently obtained and labeled by the second computingenvironment with a second key, and then saved as a dump file, inaccordance with an aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 5 depicts the computing environment of FIGS. 2–4, showing theretrieval of the logged set of data from firmware and the employing of adiagnostic process to correlate the logged data, the snapshot file andthe dump file, in accordance with an aspect of the present invention;and

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of one embodiment of a diagnostic process forcorrelating the logged data, snapshot file and dump file, in accordancewith an aspect of the present invention.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Reference is now made to the drawings, wherein the same referencenumbers used throughout different figures designate the same or similarcomponents. Although described herein with reference to a fatal error orfatal event, those skilled in the art will understand that the datacorrelation concepts presented are applicable to other activation eventswherein multiple asynchronously generated sets of data need to becorrelated between operating environments which do not communicatedirectly.

One embodiment of a computing environment, generally denoted 100,incorporating and using the data correlation capabilities of the presentinvention is depicted in FIG. 1. Computing environment 100 is based, forinstance, on the eServer pSeries 690 system offered by InternationalBusiness Machines Corporation, Armonk, N.Y. The pSeries 690 is describedin an IBM publication entitled “IBM eServer pSeries 690 User's Guide,”IBM Publication No. SA38-0588, February 2004, which is herebyincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Computing environment 100 includes, for example, a central processorcomplex (CPC) 102 having one or more central processors 106 (e.g.,CP1–CP4), one or more partitions 108 (e.g., logical partitions(LP1–LP4)), and at least one logical partition manager 110, each ofwhich is described below.

Central processors 106 are physical processor resources that areallocated to the logical partitions. In particular, each logicalpartition 108 has one or more logical processors (not separately shownfor clarity), each of which represents all or a share of a physicalprocessor 106 allocated to the partition. The logical processors of aparticular partition 108 may be either dedicated to the partition (sothat the underlying processor resource 106 is reserved for thatpartition) or shared with another partition (so that the underlyingprocessor resource is potentially available to another partition).

In the particular example shown, each logical partition LP1–LP4functions as a separate system having a resident operating system 112(which may differ for each logical partition) and one or moreapplications 114. In one embodiment, operating system 112 is an AIX 5L™,OS/390™, or MVS/ESA™ operating system offered by International BusinessMachines Corporation, or a LINUX operating system.

Logical partitions 108 are managed by logical partition manager 110implemented by code running on processors 106. Logical partitions 108(LP1–LP4) and logical partition manager 110 each comprise one or moreprograms residing in respective portions of central storage associatedwith the central processor. One example of logical partition manager 110is PR/SM.

In a computing environment where there are multiple operatingenvironments, multiple sets of data may be required for certain types ofevents to be diagnosed properly. For example, sets of data may beasynchronously collected and stored on a host operating environment(e.g., a logical partition) responsive to an event such as a fatal errorevent or other failure. One set of data may be obtained from a networkinterface adapter by a service processor of the computing environment,while one or more other sets of data may be obtained by the hostoperating environment responsive to the event. Presented herein is atechnique for correlating these sets of data. This technique isimplemented using existing information provided by the service processorof the computing environment, and assumes that the service processordoes not communicate directly with the host operating environment. Thesolution disclosed employs unique keys associated with the differentsets of data to correlate the sets of data.

FIG. 2 depicts one embodiment of a computing environment 200 wherein ahost operating environment 210, comprising kernel space 212 and userspace 214 communicates across a firmware layer 220 with a networkinterface adapter 230. As one example, firmware layer 220 comprises ahypervisor layer or domain which is a privileged layer of software thatowns the hardware of the CPC. A service processor 240 provides, forexample, configuration and error handling responsibilities withincomputing environment 200. In one implementation, there is a singleservice processor 240 for the computing environment 200, while hostoperating environment 210 may comprise one partition of multiple logicalpartitions of the computing environment. Processor 240 is assumed tohave its own operating system, which comprises a different operatingenvironment then the host operating environment 210.

As shown in FIG. 2, a fatal event (1) is assumed to be received atnetwork interface adapter 230. This causes the adapter to register anerror, and responsive to this event, hardware logic of the adapter sendsan interrupt signal (2) to the device driver instance 211 running inkernel space 212 of the host operating environment 210 owning theadapter. Additionally, an attention signal (3) is driven from thenetwork interface adapter to the service processor 240 informing theservice processor of the fatal event. Responsive to this attentionsignal, the service processor 240 harvests or reads out (4) a set ofdata from registers on the network interface adapter 230. The data readby the service processor, in one example, contains the values of a setof registers on the adapter at the time of the event. The contents ofthese registers dictate the action taken by the service processor. Thisset of data may not be available elsewhere. Again, assuming that theevent is a fatal event, the service processor associates a first key(key1) with the obtained set of data, for example, as a file name.Commensurate with this data retrieval, device driver 211 sends an errorsignal (5) to an adapter error logging and recovery daemon 213 runningin user space 214 of the host operating environment 210. This daemon 213is assumed to comprise a reliable daemon.

As shown in FIG. 3, service provider 240 forwards (6) the set of datawith the first key associated therewith to firmware layer 220 of thecomputing environment 200 for logging in an error log 221, from whichthe data will be subsequently collected by the host operatingenvironment 210 (see FIG. 5). Asynchronously, the adapter error loggingand recovery daemon 213 collects another set of data (7) from, forexample, device driver 211 and an IP interface layer 300. This set ofdata (7) may be a snapshot set of data of the current operating systemenvironment and, may include, for example, a list of running processes,and general data such as installed software, network interface data,etc., at the time of receipt of the event. A second key (key2) isassociated with this set of data (7) by the adapter error logging andrecovery daemon 213 and stored (8) in a file system 310 of the hostoperating environment 210. At this time, there is one set of data whichwas collected by the service processor responsive to the event saved inerror log 221 of the firmware layer, and which has associated therewiththe first key assigned by the service processor, and another set of datastored in the file system 310 by the adapter error logging and recoverydaemon 213 in response to the event, which has associated therewith thesecond key assigned by the daemon 213.

FIG. 4 depict generation of still another set of data responsive to theevent. This set of data is referred to as a dump set of data or dumpfile. Action is initiated by the service processor 240 instructing (9)logic of the network interface adapter 230 to dump its internal data andto associate key1 with the dumped set of data. Adapter 230 then dumps(10) this set of internal data with key1 associated therewith intofirmware layer memory 220. In one implementation, the dump set of datamay include: the microcode revision, hardware error register values,microcode state data, hardware trace array data, and microcode tracedata. Service processor 240 monitors the dump process by the adapter andwhen completed, sends an interrupt signal (11) to the device driverinstance 211 in kernel space 212 of the host operating environment 210.Device driver 211 then signals (12) adapter error logging and recoverydaemon 213 that a dump set of data is available in memory 222 offirmware layer 220. Reliable daemon 213 calls into the kernel space 212to collect the dumped set of data from memory 222 of firmware layer 220,associates key2 with this dumped set of data, and stores (14) the dumpset of data with associated key2 as a dump file in file system 310.Daemon 213 knows to label the dump set of data with key2 because, fromthe perspective of daemon 213, there is a synchronous series of eventsfrom the fatal event notification it received from the device driver towhen the daemon sees that there is a dump set of data available. Thus,the daemon knows to relate that dump set of data to the prior fatalevent and to employ the same key2 as used in connection with thesnapshot set of data. That is, after a fatal event, the computingenvironment assumes that the network interface adapter will provide adump set of data to the host operating environment.

As shown in FIG. 5, the logged set of data generated by serviceprocessor 240 and held in error log 221 is subsequently extracted by anerror daemon 500 running in kernel space 212 of the host operatingenvironment. This is accomplished by calling into the firmware layer todetermine whether any new data has been logged. Assuming that the eventwas a fatal event, then error daemon 500 invokes (15) a diagnosticsprocess 510 to evaluate the logged set of data, the snapshot set of dataand dump set of data and correlate (16) the three sets of data.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of one embodiment of a diagnostic process forusing the associated key1 and key2 of the various sets of data tocorrelate the sets of data, in accordance with an aspect of the presentinvention. This correlation processing begins 600 with input of an errorlog entry or sequence number, and initially determines whether theretrieved error log entry is an adapter related error 610. If “no”, thenprocessing exits 615. By looking inside the error log entry, thediagnostics routine can determine whether the entry was produced by anetwork interface adapter. If so, then processing determines whether theadapter belongs to the current logical partition 620. In one computingenvironment implementation having multiple LPARs, all error log entriesare assumed to go to all LPARs. Only the host operating environment orLPAR that owns the network interface adapter at issue needs to processthe information. If the adapter belongs to another LPAR, then thediagnostics process for the particular operating environment is exited625.

Assuming that the error log entry is an adapter related error and thatthe adapter is owned by the current operating environment, then theprocessing parses the data in the error log entry and saves the parseddata including key1 630. Processing then, using the preset namingconvention, obtains a listing of all dump files saved in the file systemof the current operating environment 640, and opens the dump files anddetermines whether key1 matches a key found in any dump file on the list650. If“no”, then the diagnostics process is exited 655 since acorrelation can not be obtained. Assuming that a dump file or dump setof data is matched using key1, then the diagnostics processing extractskey2 from the dump file name 660. Processing then finds the snapshotfile or snapshot set of data also having key2 associated therewith, forexample, in its file name 670. The snapshot file may be in a differentdirectory structure of the current operating environment than the dumpfile. At this point, the diagnostic process has correlated the error logdata, snapshot file and dump file using key1 and key2 and writes thecorrelated data to the file system 680 before exiting 685.

By way of example, key1 could comprise an event timestamp established bythe service processor. Key2 could comprise a value established by thehost operating environment when initializing, and is a value unique foreach adapter employed by the host operating environment. For example, atinitialization, key2 could be established as the UNIX time in secondsplus the logical adapter number of the network interface adapter, thatis, (((int)time_now.tv_sec)<8 & 0x7fffffff)+(minor_number<<8). Thiswould ensure a large number of unique key2 values per adapter. The key2value can be converted to a string of hex digits and used as part of thefilename for the snapshot file and the file name for the dump file asexplained above.

The capabilities of one or more aspects of the present invention can beimplemented in software, firmware, hardware or some combination thereof.

One or more aspects of the present invention can be included in anarticle of manufacture (e.g., one or more computer program products)having, for instance, computer usable media. The media has therein, forinstance, computer readable program code means or logic (e.g.,instructions, code, commands, etc.) to provide and facilitate thecapabilities of the present invention. The article of manufacture can beincluded as a part of a computer system or sold separately.

Additionally, at least one program storage device readable by a machineembodying at least one program of instructions executable by the machineto perform the capabilities of the present invention can be provided.

The flow diagrams depicted herein are just examples. There may be manyvariations to these diagrams or the steps (or operations) describedtherein without departing from the spirit of the invention. Forinstance, the steps may be performed in a differing order, or steps maybe added, deleted or modified. All of these variations are considered apart of the claimed invention.

Although preferred embodiments have been depicted and described indetail herein, it will be apparent to those skilled in the relevant artthat various modifications, additions, substitutions and the like can bemade without departing from the spirit of the invention and these aretherefore considered to be within the scope of the invention as definedin the following claims.

1. A method of correlating data between independent operatingenvironments of a computing environment, the method comprising:identifying a failure event; responsive to the identifying of the event,associating by a first operating environment a first key to a set ofdata to be obtained responsive to the event; subsequent to theassociating by the first operating environment the first key to the setof data to be obtained responsive to the event, obtaining by a secondoperating environment the set of data with the associated first key, andassociating a second key therewith by the second operating environment,wherein associated with the set of data is the first key associated bythe first operating environment and the second key associated by thesecond operating environment; and using the set of data with theassociated first key and second key to correlate thereto at least oneother set of data obtained by the first operating environment or thesecond operating environment responsive to the failure event, the atleast one other set of data having only the first key or the second keyassociated therewith.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of dataand the at least one other set of data are obtained asynchronously by atleast one of the first operating environment and the second operatingenvironment.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the associating of thefirst key to the set of data comprises embedding the first key withinthe set of data, and wherein the associating of the second key with theset of data having the embedded first key comprises labeling the set ofdata with the embedded first key with a file name comprising the secondkey.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of data comprises a dumpset of data, and the first operating environment initiates the obtainingof the dump set of data by the second operating environment, and whereindata of the dump set of data is obtained from other than the firstoperating environment and the second operating environment.
 5. Themethod of claim 4, wherein data of the dump set of data is obtained froma network interface adapter, and wherein the first operating environmentcomprises a service processor for the computing environment and thesecond operating environment comprises a host operating environmentemploying the network interface adapter.
 6. The method of claim 1,wherein the at least one other set of data comprises at least two othersets of data, a first other set of data having only the first keyassociated therewith, and a second other set of data having only thesecond key associated therewith, and wherein the first other set of datais obtained by the first operating environment and the second other setof data is obtained by the second operating environment, the firstoperating environment providing the first other set of data to thesecond operating environment, and wherein the second operatingenvironment uses the set of data with the associated first key andsecond key to match the set of data, the first other set of data and thesecond other set of data.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein thecomputing environment comprises a network interface adapter, the firstoperating environment comprises a service processor for the computingenvironment and the second operating environment comprises a hostoperating environment which employs the network interface adapter, theservice processor communicating with a firmware layer of the computingenvironment supporting the host operating environment, and wherein thefirst other set of data is provided to the firmware layer by the serviceprocessor and is obtained from the firmware layer by the host operatingenvironment, and wherein the set of data and the second other set ofdata are stored in a file system associated with the host operatingenvironment.
 8. The method of claim 7, further comprising parsing theset of data by the host operating environment to obtain the first keyand the second key and employing the first key and the second key tomatch the set of data, the first other set of data and the second otherset of data.
 9. A system for correlating data between independentoperating environments of a computing environment, the systemcomprising: means for associating by a first operating environment afirst key to a set of data to be obtained responsive to identifying of afailure event within the computing environment; means for obtaining,subseciuent to the associating by the first operating environment thefirst key to the set of data to be obtained responsive to the event, bya second operating environment the set of data with the associated firstkey, and for associating a second key therewith by the second operatingenvironment, wherein associated with the set of data is the first keyassociated by the first operating environment and the second keyassociated by the second operating environment; and means for using theset of data with the associated first key and second key to correlatethereto at least one other set of data obtained by the first operatingenvironment or the second operating environment responsive to thefailure event, the at least one other set of data having only the firstkey or the second key associated therewith.
 10. The system of claim 9,wherein the set of data and the at least one other set of data areobtained asynchronously by at least one of the first operatingenvironment and the second operating environment.
 11. The system ofclaim 9, wherein the means for associating the first key to the set ofdata comprises means for embedding the first key within the set of data,and wherein the means for associating the second key with the set ofdata having the embedded first key comprises means for labeling the setof data with the embedded first key with a file name comprising thesecond key.
 12. The system of claim 9, wherein the set of data comprisesa dump set of data, and the first operating environment initiates themeans for obtaining of the dump set of data by the second operatingenvironment, and wherein data of the dump set of data is obtained fromother than the first operating environment and the second operatingenvironment.
 13. The system of claim 12, wherein data of the dump set ofdata is obtained from a network interface adapter, and wherein the firstoperating environment comprises a service processor for the computingenvironment and the second operating environment comprises a hostoperating environment employing the network interface adapter.
 14. Thesystem of claim 9, wherein the at least one other set of data comprisesat least two other sets of data, a first other set of data having onlythe first key associated therewith, and a second other set of datahaving only the second key associated therewith, and wherein the firstother set of data is obtained by the first operating environment and thesecond other set of data is obtained by the second operatingenvironment, the first operating environment providing the first otherset of data to the second operating environment, and wherein the secondoperating environment uses the set of data with the associated first keyand second key to match the set of data, the first other set of data andthe second other set of data.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein thecomputing environment comprises a network interface adapter, the firstoperating environment comprises a service processor for the computingenvironment and the second operating environment comprises a hostoperating environment which employs the network interface adapter, theservice processor communicating with a firmware layer of the computingenvironment supporting the host operating environment, and wherein thefirst other set of data is provided to the finnware layer by the serviceprocessor and is obtained from the firmware layer by the host operatingenvironment, and wherein the set of data and the second other set ofdata are stored in a file system associated with the host operatingenvironment.
 16. The system of claim 15, further comprising means forparsing the set of data by the host operating environment to obtain thefirst key and the second key and for employing the first key and thesecond key to match the set of data, the first other set of data and thesecond other set of data.
 17. A system comprising: a first operatingenvironment of a computing environment, the first operating environmentbeing adapted to associate a first key to a set of data to be obtainedresponsive to identifying of a failure event within the computingenvironment; a second operating environment of the computingenvironment, the second operating environment being adapted to obtain,subsequent to the associating by the first operating environment thefirst key to the set of data to be obtained response to the event, theset of data with the associated first key responsive to the event, andto associate a second key therewith, wherein associated with the set ofdata is the first key associated by the first operating environment andthe second key associated by the second operating environment; andwherein one of the first operating environment and the second operatingenvironment is adapted to employ the set of data with the associatedfirst key and second key to correlate thereto at least one other set ofdata obtained by the first operating environment or the second operatingenvironment responsive to the failure event, the at least one other setof data having only the first key or the second key associatedtherewith.
 18. The system of claim 17, wherein the computing environmentcomprises a network interface adapter, the first operating environmentcomprises a service processor for the computing environment and thesecond operating environment comprises a host operating environmentwhich employs the network interface adapter, the service processorcommunicating with a firmware layer of the computing environmentsupporting the host operating environment, and wherein the set of dataand the at least one other set of data are obtained asynchronously by atleast one of the service processor and the host operating environment.19. At least one program storage device readable by a machine embodyingat least one program of instructions executable by the machine toperform a method of correlating data between independent operatingenvironments of a computing environment, the method comprising:identifying a failure event; responsive to the identifying of the event,associating by a first operating environment a first key to a set ofdata to be obtained responsive to the event; subseciuent to theassociating by the first operating environment the first key to the setof data to be obtained responsive to the event, obtaining by a secondoperating environment the set of data with the associated first key, andassociating a second key therewith by the second operating environment,wherein associated with the set of data is the first key associated bythe first operating environment and the second key associated by thesecond operating environment; and using the set of data with theassociated first key and second key to correlate thereto at least oneother set of data obtained by the first operating environment or thesecond operating environment responsive to the failure event, the atleast one other set of data having only the first key or the second keyassociated therewith.
 20. The at least one program storage device ofclaim 19, wherein the set of data and the at least one other set of dataare obtained asynchronously by at least one of the first operatingenvironment and the second operating environment.
 21. The at least oneprogram storage device of claim 19, wherein the associating of the firstkey to the set of data comprises embedding the first key within the setof data, and wherein the associating of the second key with the set ofdata having the embedded first key comprises labeling the set of datawith the embedded first key with a file name comprising the second key.22. The at least one program storage device of claim 19, wherein the setof data comprises a dump set of data, and the first operatingenvironment initiates the obtaining of the dump set of data by thesecond operating environment, and wherein data of the dump set of datais obtained from other than the first operating environment and thesecond operating environment.
 23. The at least one program storagedevice of claim 22, wherein data of the dump set of data is obtainedfrom a network interface adapter, and wherein the first operatingenvironment comprises a service processor for the computing environmentand the second operating environment comprises a host operatingenvironment employing the network interface adapter.
 24. The at leastone program storage device of claim 19, wherein the at least one otherset of data comprises at least two other sets of data, a first other setof data having only the first key associated therewith, and a secondother set of data having only the second key associated therewith, andwherein the first other set of data is obtained by the first operatingenvironment and the second other set of data is obtained by the secondoperating environment, the first operating environment providing thefirst other set of data to the second operating environment, and whereinthe second operating environment uses the set of data with theassociated first key and second key to match the set of data, the firstother set of data and the second other set of data.
 25. The at least oneprogram storage device of claim 24, wherein the computing environmentcomprises a network interface adapter, the first operating environmentcomprises a service processor for the computing environment and thesecond operating environment comprises a host operating environmentwhich employs the network interface adapter, the service processorcommunicating with a firmware layer of the computing environmentsupporting the host operating environment, and wherein the first otherset of data is provided to the firmware layer by the service processorand is obtained from the firmware layer by the host operatingenvironment, and wherein the set of data and the second other set ofdata are stored in a file system associated with the host operatingenvironment.
 26. The at least one program storage device of claim 25,further comprising parsing the set of data by the host operatingenvironment to obtain the first key and the second key and employing thefirst key and the second key to match the set of data, the first otherset of data and the second other set of data.